The human skin is naturally populated with numerous micro-organisms. These organisms are nourished by various skin secreted substances, skin cell debris, breakdown products of the skin and the organisms themselves. The "skin secretions" are eccrine and apocrine sweat, and lipid-soluble sebum. Eccrine sweat is normally odorless and remains odorless after secretion, although odoriferous food and drug substances may be excreted with it. Apocrine glands are normally associated with hair follicles and are confined mainly to the groin, perianal, areola and armpits. They produce a scanty, milky substance that is odorless upon secretion, but becomes odoriferous upon bacterial decomposition. Apocrine glands are considered to be a primary contributor for malodor.
The sebaceous glands are distributed over the skin surface except the palms and dorsae. They are most numerous on the scalp, forehead, face, back and chest. The secretion, sebum, consists mainly of fatty materials, wax esters, cholesterol and its esters and squalene. Sebum is typically associated with acne.
Specifically, body odor is most commonly caused by fatty acids on skin and from malodors from bacterial sources. The unpleasant odors are mainly organic molecules which have different structures and functional groups, such as amines, acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, phenolics, polycyclics, indoles, aromatics, polyaromatics, etc. They can also be made up of sulfur-containing functional groups, such as, thiol, mercaptan, sulfide and/or disulfide groups.
Numerous attempts have been made to conceal body odors through the use of perfumes. Not only are such perfumes often inadequate at fully concealing the body odors, very often they are irritating to the user's skin. Additionally, the perfume odor itself may be irritating or offensive to the user's respiratory system and/or olfactory senses, as well as to nearby individuals.
Other attempts have been made to control odor through moisture absorption. Odor causing bacteria and fungi often flourish in warm, moist conditions; particularly where they have easy access to nourishment such as skin secretions and skin cell debris. Therefore, attempts are made to deprive the bacteria responsible for body odor of the moist/humid environment they need to proliferate and grow. Such efforts include the use of powders and/or antiperspirants. Powders and powder-based compositions may be difficult to apply. They may rub or even fall off onto clothing, leaving visible residue on clothing which can be quite embarrassing and inconvenient to the user. Therefore, daily use of the body powders of the prior art are undesirable and/or ineffective for day to day body odor control for the entire body. Antiperspirants are not useful in a body odor control product for use over the entire body as they may interfere with the body's thermal regulatory process by inhibiting perspiration through the action of astringent salts. Additionally, such salts may be irritating to a large number of users, particularly when applying them to sensitive areas such as the pelvic region.
Numerous other deodorant compositions aimed at combating odor associated with the skin secretions have been described in the chemical and cosmetic literature. These generally are emulsion sticks or suspensoid sticks, but also may be aerosols, roll-ons, pads, pump sprays, and even soap bars.
Known deodorants attempt to control odor through a variety of means. Deodorants may include antibacterial compounds which help destroy and/or control the amount of bacteria present on the skin, thereby minimizing odor produced via bacterial metabolism of the skin secretions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,331, to Betts, issued Jun. 11, 1996, discloses compositions which inhibit the growth of micro-organisms in the body-secretions. Yet another attempt at controlling body odor is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,079, to Marschner, issued May 3, 1983, which discloses the use of sodium bicarbonate as an underarm deodorant to neutralize offending body odor.
Zeolites such as those marketed under the trade name ABSCENTS.RTM. by the Union Carbide Corporation and UOP are known odor absorbers. However these commonly known solid odor absorbers, in addition to known activated charcoal odor absorbers, lose functionality when wet. Therefore, when wetted by body fluids or when carried in an aqueous solution, these odor absorbers are not preferred as they lose their desired odor absorbent characteristics. Furthermore, zeolites can cause a "harsh" feel if too much is deposited onto the skin.
Thus, there remains a need for an improved odor absorbing composition, which is essentially free of irritating ingredients such as perfumes or astringent antiperspirants and which is safe and effective for use on the entire body. More particularly, there is a need for a convenient, leave on composition which is capable of absorbing a broad spectrum of body odors that are not fully suppressed by the aforementioned means.
It has been discovered that such enhanced body odor control can be safely provided to the entire body by applying a composition, which is left on the skin, which incorporates odor absorbing, uncomplexed cyclodextrins into an aqueous solution. Furthermore, it has been discovered that the combination of uncomplexed cyclodextrins with low levels of antimicrobials provides a leave on skin solution with optimal body odor absorbing characteristics and extended shelf-life. It has been discovered that a particular advantage of the present invention is the ability to provide convenient, non-irritating odor protection when applied to occluded skin areas such as the pelvic region, the external vagina, the panty-line, the bra-line, and skin-folds, which may be very sensitive. Moreover, it has been discovered that the aforementioned benefits may be delivered in an aqueous solution which also optionally delivers skin aid benefits to the user such as protection and/or moisturization.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from the detailed description which follows.
All percentages, ratios, and parts herein, in the Specification, Examples, and Claims are by weight unless otherwise stated. The term "g", as used herein, means gram. The term "ml", as used herein, means milliliter.